Marion County Woman says TDOT overstepping boundaries

"The states taken property they don't own and don't want to pay for,” said Patricia Gouger.

Gouger has lived on Murphy Hollow Road for more than 20 years.

But now she feels her property is being infringed on, after TDOT began a $2.4 million dollar project to rebuild a bridge that crosses over I-24, right into Gouger's front yard.

"My complaint is they're destroying property to put a bridge in that they could have built on the other side and not bothered anyone's house," said Gouger.

The really upsetting part: she says they began to use property that clearly belongs to her, without even checking. "It was easy to do, to find out they didn't own it," said Gouger.

According to TDOT they thought they owned the property when they began the project and admits they made a mistake. "The existing right of way was wrong on our construction plans, we thought we would be doing all of the work on our property," said Jennifer Flynn, Tennessee Department of Transportation.

Flynn with says they've agreed to return the property in the condition they found it, like rebuilding her fence, but Gouger says that simply just isn't possible. "They put in a permanent culvert down here," said Gouger.

She says they've gone too far.

"I'd like for it to be halfway back to what it was and paid for what they destroyed," said Gouger.

Which Flynn says they plan to do. "We will make this right and make sure they get compensated for us having to use their property," said Flynn.